The Life of Saffron Ryudo
by Miko 2495
Summary: Follow the hardships of Saffron Ryudo as she moves to Echo Village and awaken her family's legacy that has been inactive for many years.
1. Chapter 1- Welcome to Echo Village

**I'm taking a break from my DQ9 fanfic and I am gonna do some Harvest Moon stories instead.**

**The one minor detail: while my farmer is actually called 'Saffy' in the game, I'm calling her 'Saffron' (One letter over the maximum. SO CLOSE!)**

**Harvest Moon is not mine, it belongs to the rightful owners**

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Welcome to Echo Village

It was a beautiful sunny day in the mountains and a young girl was admiring the serene greenery that surrounded her. Her brown skin glowed in the sunlight, her long black hair glided with the breeze and her red eyes were full of excitement and wonder. The girl looked around with awe until she heard a 'thump' behind her. She turned around and found an elderly man unconscious on the ground. "Oh no!" the girl cried and ran to the man's aid.

"_He needs some water."_ a voice said in her head.

The girl quickly agreed with the voice and without hesitating, she got her water bottle out of her bag and placed on the man's lips.

After a few gulps, man regained consciousness and he asked, "W…Where am I? What happened?"

The girl explained how she found laying on the ground and the old man then remembered that he was looking for food before he passed out due to the heat. When she took a good look at the girl, his eyes widened. "I haven't seen you in these parts. You wouldn't be Saffron, would you?"

Saffron grinned and saluted, "The one and only!"

The man laughed and introduced himself as Dunhill, a friend of Saffron's parents.

Dunhill then lead Saffron to a small village named Echo Village. He told the girl he was quiet surprised about the letter her parents sent before her arrival. It said that to celebrate her coming of age, Saffron would inherit the farm that was used by her ancestors. Dunhill also mentioned how her father used to visit the farm every once in a while to do work on it. "Originally," the old man explained, "the farm was going to be inherited by your father, then he moved away to marry your mother. So, the farm is still in your family's name but unused."

As they were walking, Saffron's stomach began to grumble. She has not eaten since this morning. Dunhill offered her some food which she kindly accepted. They went to Dunhill's house and had potato salad. "So Saffron," the old man said to start a conversation, "What convinced you to run a farm here? Last time I saw you, you was a stubborn little lady."

Saffron giggled and looked out of the window, "I guess you can say I was bored of city life. It was too noisy and there wasn't much to do. I enjoyed working at my grandpa's farm in the summer and was really happy when I inherited a farm of my own."

Dunhill nodded as if he understood the girl's motivation.

After they left the house, Saffron then noticed something: two women were talking to a man and a boy. Behind them was a cart and the man looked sad. After the four finished talking, the man and the boy took the cart away from the village. Saffron then looked at Dunhill who had a pain expression on his face. He noticed Saffron's worried face and explained, "That was the innkeeper and his son. They're moving to the neighbouring village. As you can tell Saffron, there are not much people living here. In fact, you can count them all with one hand. I just don't understand; we're rich in nature and our villagers are kindest you ever meet!"

"I see." Saffron replied.

"I'm sorry for dropping this on your visit but I did not want to present our home the wrong way."

Saffron said it was alright and that she kind of understands where he was coming from. With a lovely scenery surrounding the village, it's a wonder why less and less people come here.

The two then walked to the farm. There was a small house, a small barn and a lot of land. Saffron named the farm 'Ryudo Farm' because that's her family's name. After giving her the keys to the house, Dunhill took his leave and the young farmer retired to bed.

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**Done. Next Part coming up!**


	2. Chapter 2- Getting to know the place

**The second story for the 'Harvest Moon' folder where Saffron meets Emma and Hana as well as walking around the forest.**

**Let me just say that I do NOT know it end up like this. When I first started it, I was meant to follow the plot. But I kinda drifted away and added my own plot...again!**

**I do own 'Harvest Moon' or it's characters...just Saffron**

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Getting to know the place

_BAM! BAM!_

The loud and unexpected noise instantly woke Saffron up from her slumber. She groaned in annoyance as she heard the noise again. _'What on Earth?'_ Saffron thought. The farmer got out of bed, dressed herself in her overalls and boots before she opened the door. There, she saw Dunhill forcing a newspaper in her slanted mail box. The old man saw the girl and smiled. "Well howdy, Saffron. Nice to see you so bright and early."

Saffron looked annoyed. "Dunhill, it's six in the bloody morning. What in the Harvest Goddess's name are you doing?" she growled.

It wasn't like Saffron hated waking up early. Back in her granddad's farm, she wakes up at six in the morning and she sometimes wake up earlier. What the girl wasn't happy with was waking up six in the morning to a loud and ear-scratching noise.

Dunhill answered matter-of-factly, "Doing my job."

"Job?" the farmer questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…I say 'job' but it's actually my hobby."

Saffron said nothing more after that. Instead, she slammed the down shut and went back to bed.

* * *

Later (at a more reasonable time) Dunhill came back to Saffron's house. "Hey Saffron," he called, "Are you awake?"

Saffron was awake and munching on a loaf of bread her grandma made for her yesterday. Her face showed that she was still annoyed about earlier. The man apologised and offered to take her around the town. They both went out and met the two women from yesterday: one was an old lady with a straw hat named Hana and the other was a younger woman with brown hair and an apron called Emma. Hana runs the town general shop which sells recipes, food and farming tools while Emma is charge of the shipping. During theirs introductions, Saffron noticed that most of the things that Emma was wearing had something to do with apples and made a mental note saying: 'EMMA LOVES APPLES'

Dunhill then showed Saffron the forest, the river and finally mountain-top. Just like yesterday, the trees and flowers were in full bloom and there was wildlife everywhere. Dunhill deeply inhaled and exhaled. "Ah!" he sighed contently, "The air's fresh, the breeze is refreshing and the sun is shining. Isn't being outside the city just great?"

"Yeah…great…"

Hearing the nostalgia in her voice, the old man turned over his shoulder and saw Saffron looking out to the horizon with her arms across her stomach. He could see the sadness in her eyes yet he couldn't figure out the reason. "Saffron?" he called out to her, "Are you alright?"

The younger snapped out of her trance and looked at Dunhill with a confused looked before smiling, "Y-Yeah, I'm just taking it all in."

"Taking it…all in?"

"I mean, I lived in the city for most of my life and only stayed with grandpa during the summer holidays. The fact that I'm here running my own farm is…mind-blowing."

"Ho, ho, ho," Dunhill laughed joyfully, "The mind of the young. I have some errands to run so I will see you later. Don't stay up to late or you'll get tired."

The old man walked back to town. He was glad that the child of his friend was coming to run a farm here. _'It's going to be like old times,'_ he thought with a smile, _'the town may be empty but with Saffron's help, it will be restored back to its former self.'_

He walked to his house and ate some corn stew for dinner.

* * *

Later, Emma came into Dunhill's house and said, "Dunhill, a word?"

Dunhill looked at the brown haired woman and replied while gestured a chair, "Why of course! Take a seat."

Emma declined by gently shaking her, "No need. I just wanted to ask, how long have known Saffron for?"

Dunhill informed her that before Saffron arrived, he had only known her through the letters from her parents. Each letter had a brief description on what she was like and not much is said on her personal life. Emma then asked what Saffron said to him today. When Dunhill explained what happened, he also mentioned the sad eyes the farmer had which made Emma sympathetic. Dunhill noticed her frown and questioned, "Is there something wrong?"

"Dunhill," Emma said with a tone as serious as her looks, "You, me and Hana know how difficult it is to raise a child at Saffron's age, the hardest being to tell what they are thinking."

"What brought this up?"

"Don't you think there's the slightest chance that Saffron is _lying_ to you about how she feels?"

"Huh?" Dunhill was clearly confused, "Why would she lie to me?"

"You may be a friend of her parents; however, you are still a stranger. You don't know her, she don't know you?"

"Why are you saying this?"

Emma's face saddened, "I worry for the girl. It's clear that she's holding secrets like the rest of us but those secrets are eating up her up inside."

Dunhill nodded as Emma's message was clear: they need to help Saffron adjust to her new life as well as gain her trust before something bad happens.

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**The next one will tell a little bit of Saffron's past.**


End file.
